I consider this movie a 1950s version of Easy Rider, for South America. The cinematography in the movie won an award that year. It is before the main character became political, for all you commie haters. Make sure you sit through the credits at the end- there is some video at the end with Che’s friend, now an old man, who was consulted during the script writing to make the movie more authentic.
The 1939 Norton that Che owned was special because it was the end of civilian bikes before WII. 1930’s Nortons had the best engine and transmission case castings, engine design and electrical technology. Their 1930s long distance endurance and race winning prestige made Norton one of the finest and fastest bikes in the world at the time.
Source:
750 years of motorcycling
Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina into a middle-class family.
In 1953 Guevara graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, where he was trained as a doctor. In 1952, during a college break, he and his best friend made a journey on an old worn out 1939 Norton 500 single, around South America. The movie focuses on their trip from Argentina, to volunteer at a leper colony several hundred miles further north.
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